While I can think of many reasons farming is fantastic, today I will stick to just 3.

#1 Constant Improvement

Around the farm there is always something to work on. There is always a project that needs completion, or land that needs clearing, or fence that needs work. Once finished, you have the powerful sense of accomplishment that only witnessing change wrought with your own hands (or heavy powered machinery) can bring.

Project Completion

This is the greatest nesting box in the world! You are certainly free to disagree, but you MUST post pictures of a different one in order to do so. AND I must add that this nesting box was made by TheManWhoKnowsEverything using an old bench and scrap wood he had lying around.

Clearing Land

Clearing Land

If you compare the right hand sides of the two above pictures you will see how much we accomplished….not to mention the fun of FIRE!

Working on Fence

If you haven’t balanced a fencepost on your head have you truly lived?

#2 Involving the Kids

I cannot think of better way to teach children a good work ethic than farming. They learn that work produces results. They learn responsibility and patience through the care of animals. They also learn super important things like chicken poop stinks way worse than horse poop. Maybe all this teaches them the important noble lessons that we hope or perhaps it just teaches them to live in loft apartments in big cities.

Buddy Working

Red Working the Wheelbarrow

#3 Living with Horses!

This reason is self explanatory….but an excuse to post pictures nonetheless!

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After all the huffing and puffing and ranting and raving, we have completed our coop. Of course it still needs landscaping and it still needs paint. However, at this point it is fully functional and chickenified. It sure isn’t one of those Coop Cadillacs that I have seen but it cost less than $50 total and most importantly the flock seems to dig it!

The Guineas Enjoying the Roost

Inside the Coop

I was thinking of another window on each side and then perhaps window boxes with some flowers? And of course we will need to add some nesting boxes this fall…..and and and…..

Do you have any ideas on how to spruce up our coop?

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You know if we had a tape measurer and level that actually worked this project would be so much simpler. I’m sure ours are the only ones in the whole world that have been calibrated to cause us to have to replan, remeasure and recut so many times.

One of the best choices we have made was to wait on getting our chickens until the coop is complete. However, we do have 6 guineas living in the garage. I would love to use the coop as their transitional housing as they work their way towards becoming free range tick killers!

As we pull together the disparate pieces of the coop I am gradually tending towards optimism. Are parts of it crooked and completely off level? Yes, yes indeed they are. Overall, I am starting to believe it will serve our purpose quite well. It has also served as a confidence builder. Because at each step, as we improve and gain knowledge—we believe—we can Do Anything Ourselves!If we can do it, so can you! Do you have a project you have been putting off? Is there something around the house you have been longing to tackle on your own? Get out there and DIY!
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I never thought I would be envious of chicken coops. Nevertheless, after lurking around for quite sometime on Backyard Chickens I found some coops that filled me with a difficult to explain covetousness. As you can see, some people are ridiculously blessed in the coop area.

The problem with having a coop of our own is that The Geek, my beloved, is a very….frugal (YES CHEAP! Oh he is SOOOO CHEAP!) individual. He said we didn’t have the money to buy one of those lovely manufactured coops. He said we could build one ourselves! I have only one issue with that scenario. Our combined knowledge of building comes to about –16. So just one issue, but a pretty significant one.

Here is what WE have so far. Looks slightly different from the other chicken palaces doesn’t it?